NWU put to the knife by UWC at the Operation Room

Thulani Vuyo Mkosi

UWC put four unanswered goals past NWU on their first visit to Bellville on Thursday night, as UWC step up to second place.

The Operation Room welcomed old nemesis NWU in Round Four of the 2017 Varsity Football season. It was NWU’s first visit to the Mother City and the side from North West were not making the journey South just to be tourists. With one point separating the two sides this match promised to be a cracker and both teams delivered a quality game.

From the first whistle the visitors took the game to the hosts as both teams looked for the opener, to get early momentum. UWC could have taken the lead but Josh Silent misplaced his shot. UWC welcomed back captain fantastic, Thulani Mkosi, who missed the last match against UFH and the skipper showed why he was the player of the tournament in 2015, as he grabbed the lead for his team in the seventh minute.

The game was an end-to-end encounter with the visitors displaying some quality football. Sandile Mbatha and Xolela Ndude were dictating terms in the middle of the park for both sides with Ndude winning the duels in the middle of the park

With the score at 1-0, the second half took off at a blistering pace as NWU searched for the equaliser and UWC looked to consolidate their lead. Chad Smith was there to make sure the home team extended the lead as he converted after some great combination play to make the score 2-0. UWC weren’t complacent with their two goal lead, and NWU went all out looking for the goal that could bring them back into the game. That left their defence exposed. Johannes Matlhanyane conceded a penalty for a bad tackle, which he received a red card for and Phiwokuhle Mpalala stepped up to convert from the penalty spot to make it 3-0.

The game opened later in the second half, with NWU looking more determined and their finishing in front of goal letting them down. Both benches were ringing changes and it seemed UWC’s changes were the more effective ones as Clint Fredericks, who came in for Josh Silent, sealed the victory for the home side as he netted the fourth goal. UWC has scored fourteen goals at home and conceded just one.

The game at the Operation Room ended with a victory for UWC, which puts them at 9 points and second on the log standings.